Written Answers Tuesday 13 January 2009

Scottish Executive

Class Sizes

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, based on the legally enforceable class size maximum, what the capacity of each state school is in 2008-09.

Maureen Watt: There is not a statutory class size maximum throughout schools. The capacity of a school is based on a number of factors including the size of the classrooms, the number of teachers and the design of the school. These factors are taken into account by local authorities when providing information on the capacity of schools for the school estates survey.

  The latest available information on the capacity of publicly funded mainstream schools (primary and secondary) comes from the school estates survey which was published in September 2008.

  The available information on the capacity as at September 2007, of each publicly funded mainstream school that was open in April 2008, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47263).

  Information on the capacity of special schools was not collected. Guidance for authorities on determining school capacities was issued by the Scottish Executive in Circular 3/2004 and can be found on the Scottish Government website using the following link:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/20528/50013.

Class Sizes

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, based on the legally enforceable class size maximum, what the average capacity of state schools is in each local authority in 2008-09.

Maureen Watt: There is not a statutory class size maximum throughout schools. The capacity of a school is based on a number of factors including the size of the classrooms, the number of teachers and the design of the school. These factors are taken into account by local authorities when providing information on the capacity of schools for the school estates survey.

  The latest available information on the capacity of publicly funded mainstream schools (primary and secondary) comes from the school estates survey which was published in September 2008.

  The average capacity as at September 2007, of publicly funded mainstream schools in each local authority that were open in April 2008, is given in the following tables.

  

 Local Authority
 Average Capacity


 Aberdeen City
 478


 Aberdeenshire
 245


 Angus
 325


 Argyll and Bute
 210


 Clackmannanshire
 397


 Dumfries and Galloway
 204


 Dundee City
 554


 East Ayrshire
 437


 East Dunbartonshire
 479


 East Lothian
 376


 East Renfrewshire
 608


 Edinburgh City of
 490


 Eilean Siar
 142


 Falkirk
 458


 Fife
 385


 Glasgow City
 512


 Highland
 230


 Inverclyde
 479


 Midlothian
 421


 Moray
 300


 North Ayrshire
 449


 North Lanarkshire
 432


 Orkney Islands
 175


 Perth and Kinross
 239


 Renfrewshire
 499


 Scottish Borders
 261


 Shetland Islands
 123


 South Ayrshire
 390


 South Lanarkshire
 353


 Stirling
 243


 West Dunbartonshire
 527


 West Lothian
 398



  Information on the capacity of special schools was not collected. Guidance for authorities on determining school capacities was issued by the Scottish Executive in Circular 3/2004 and can be found on the Scottish Government website using the following link:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/20528/50013.